


Mistletoe and Holly

by memorizingthedigitsofpi



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, Boiler Room, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Romance, overzealous decorating, under the mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 15:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5422235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/pseuds/memorizingthedigitsofpi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas at the Academy, and the Boiler Room has been decorated within an inch of its life. Too bad no one knows the difference between mistletoe and holly.</p><p>Except Simmons, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe and Holly

Fitz stopped short on the walkway leading to the steps and stared down at the riot of Christmas colour that was the Boiler Room.

"Jemma?" he asked faintly, not able to drag his eyes away from the giant inflatable santa suspended from the ceiling.

"Uh huh?" she replied distractedly, her eyes having trouble on focusing on any one thing amidst the lights and tinsel.

"Thanksgiving _was_ just yesterday, wasn't it?" Fitz asked, looking for a place where he could hold onto the railing for support. The whole thing had been wrapped in ribbon and so many bows that he wondered if there were any to be found anywhere else in the state.

"Mmhmm," Jemma nodded again. She started to make her way slowly down the stairs, moving carefully so as not to knock over the life-sized nutcrackers perched on every-other step.

"Then how di- Ahh!" Fitz let out a small shriek when he turned and found himself face to face with one of the wooden-faced dolls. "God damnit!"

"Apparently, someone at the Academy likes Christmas?" Jemma said mildly. She tilted her head and squinted at set of large snowflakes hanging from the ceiling near the landing. She let out a laugh when she noticed [they were cut into Star Wars shapes](http://anthonyherreradesigns.com/index.php/snowflake-patterns/star-wars-snowflakes).

By the time they reached the bar, they'd wound their way past a mechanized Santa's workshop, a copse of decorated Christmas trees, and a large screen playing the claymation Rudolf movie.

Fitz leaned across the bar and shouted at Lucie over the Christmas music. "Bit early, isn't it?"

Lucie frowned back in confusion. "We always open at 5."

Fitz sighed and waved a hand to encompass the Christmas insanity around them. "I meant for all this."

"Nah," she scoffed. "Thanksgiving was _yesterday_. That means it's officially Christmas season."

Jemma sat down on a stool and tugged on Fitz's sleeve to make him do the same. "I'll have a beer please," she asked politely, trying not to stare at the way the bartender's Santa hat kept dancing back and forth.

"Me, as well," Fitz added, making not effort at all not to stare.

"Sure," Lucie said, reaching below the bar for a couple of glasses. "Red or green?"

Fitz and Jemma shared a look. Then they looked at Lucie. "What?" they asked simultaneously.

"Your beer," she shrugged. "You want red or green?"

"Beer isn't red or green," Jemma said at the same time that Fitz said, "Are you kidding me right now?"

"How about I just give you one of each then?" Lucie asked, eyeing the queue of customers beginning behind them and giving them each a full glass decorated with a festive sprig.

Fitz frowned at the plant in his pint. "What's this?" he asked, pointing to it with a wrinkled nose.

Lucie poured beers for the customers behind them and rolled her eyes in frustration. "Mistletoe," she said shortly. "What's it look like?"

"It _looks_ like holly," Jemma said, rolling her eyes in turn. "Honestly. It's as if people in this country have no idea about basic botany."

"Fine, it's holly!" Lucie said, a bit desperately as the queue continued to lengthen. "Now, can I serve the people behind you?"

Putting some money on the bar, Jemma turned to Fitz and shrugged. "Bottom's up?" she asked.

Fitz nodded and paused with his glass at his lips. "It's going to be a long month."

* * *

That Thursday, after their evening class was finished, they went back to the Boiler Room to find even more decorations had somehow been added.

"They keep this up, there won't be any room for _people_ ," Fitz grumbled.

"At least it's actually _December_ now," Jemma said as she pushed her way through the crowd to a table in the corner.

As they sat down with their brightly coloured brews, one of their classmates catcalled over to them and waved. "Hey, FitzSimmons!"

"Yeah?" Fitz asked, swiveling his head around to see who it was. "What's up, Victoria?"

"You're under the mistletoe!" she cackled. Then she screwed her eyes up and made a kissy face at them. "Mwah!"

Jemma raised an eyebrow and looked at the plant hanging above their table. "We're actually _not_ ," she said with a polite smile. "That's holly."

"Aww," Victoria tutted beside her. "Don't be a spoilsport!"

"I'm not being a spoilsport," Jemma argued. "I'm simply not supporting the continued misuse of holly in place of mistletoe, which is itself used in a misplaced bastardization of a pagan tradition."

Fitz rolled his eyes and turned back to Jemma. " _How_ long is it til Christmas again?"

* * *

The following weekend, they went to the Boiler Room for some hot wings and a game of pool. They were able to get the first but not the second. The pool table had been covered in cotton batting and turned into a little winter village, complete with model train set. Fitz wasn't even upset because he got a chance to control the train.

"Fitz," Jemma sighed, nursing her red beer. "Are you almost _done_?" She'd danced herself exhausted and just wanted to go home.

"Five more minutes," he said vaguely, eyes focused completely on the little miniature train wending its way through the snowy mountains.

A slender hand with red-painted nails slid over Fitz's shoulder and into his hair as its pair stroked his cheek and turned his face. "Hi Fitz," Amy said in a throaty whisper.

"Hey," Fitz said, still watching the train out of the corner of his eye.

"I have some mistletoe here," she said, taking her hand off of his shoulder to remove a sprig from her pocket. "And-"

"Mmhmm," Fitz nodded. His face broke into a grin as he pressed a button to make the train whistle. Amy's hand dropped from his face as she sighed in frustration.

Jemma leaned almost sideways on her stool to see around Fitz and take in Amy's cute outfit and perfect hair and makeup. "That's holly," Jemma said with a helpful smile, pointing at plant cutting. "You can tell by the red berries and pointed leaves."

Amy glared first at Fitz and then at Jemma before pasting a stiff smile on her face. "Thanks for the tip," she said through clenched teeth.

"Any time," Jemma said with a friendly wave as she watched her leave.

* * *

"Who cares about leaves and berries?" Alex asked as he frowned up at the tiny bouquet he was holding over Jemma's head. "It's Christmas!"

Jemma sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, covering the MERRY that was emblazoned on the front of her ugly sweater. It was the end of term party, and she couldn't wait to leave America and return to a country where people knew which plant was which. "I'm not opposed to kissing someone because of a ridiculous tradition involving a parasitic plant," she said shortly. "But I _am_ opposed to kissing someone who is attempting to use the _wrong_ parasitic plant." She shook her head and tutted at him.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asked, coming over and handing her a red beer before taking a sip of his green one.

Jemma turned to him with a frustrated look on her face. "Alex is trying to get me to kiss him using _holly_ of all things," Jemma said with a long-suffering tone.

" _Hah_ ," Fitz barked out a laugh and slapped Alex genially on the shoulder. "Good luck with _that_ , mate," he said, still chucking as he shook his head. "That's like Jemma's number one pet peeve about Christmas."

"Why don't you go and find Amy," Jemma suggested helpfully. " _She_ thinks that's mistletoe, as well."

Fitz snorted into his drink and tried to look innocent when Alex glared at him. "What?" he asked, eyes wide and face full of naiveté.

* * *

"You all packed?" Fitz asked as they walked along the snowy paths to Jemma's place the night before her flight.

"Of course," Jemma smiled, blinking as snowflakes caught on her lashes.

"So you don't need help then?" he asked, slightly disappointed. They usually had mini packing parties before their trips home, drinking tea and eating cookies and watching movies together as they did a final load of laundry and ran down the checklist of things to remember.

"Don't worry," Jemma reassured him, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "Just because I'm finished doesn't mean we can't keep up the tradition."

Fitz grinned back at her happily. "Good," he said, elbowing her back. "And I hope you've left enough space for my gift in your bag."

A slow smile started to make its way across Jemma's face as they climbed the stairs of her building.

"Unless of course you don't want it," Fitz continued with a wink, holding the front door open for her to walk through.

Jemma slapped his shoulder playfully on her way past. "Don't even joke!" she said with a pout. "You _know_ I love presents!"

"Unlike everyone else who merely tolerates them for the sake of tradition?" Fitz teased.

"You're a horrid man, and I don't know why I'm friends with you," Jemma grinned. Digging through her bag, she got out her keys and opened her door. They both sighed as they entered the warmth of her room.

"Well," Jemma asked impatiently as they divested themselves of coats, boots, scarves, and gloves. "Where is it?" she demanded eagerly.

Fitz smirked at her and knelt down at the side of her bed. Then he reached under it and pulled out a beautifully wrapped parcel. "Tada!" he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

Jemma's jaw dropped. "When did you-?" she asked. That explained why she hadn't been able to find it in _his_ room when she'd snooped the other day.

"When I came back from the shops and saw you sneaking into my room," Fitz replied. "Why can't you just let me _surprise_ you for once?"

Jemma crossed her arms haughtily and tried to look like she had the moral high ground. Which she knew she didn't. "Because I would have _acted_ surprised and you never would have known?" she said with a toss of her hair.

Fitz snorted at that. "Yeah," he said sarcastically. "You're not as good an actress as you think you are." He passed her the gift and then sat down on the edge of her bed. "Anyway, I guess you can open it early if you like, but I figured you'd pack it and put it under the tree."

Jemma looked at the impeccably wrapped gift with its ribbons and bow and decorative touch and then looked at Fitz. "Did you wrap this yourself?" she asked, and there was more than polite curiosity in her voice.

"Mmhmm," Fitz nodded, looking down at where his fingers were picking lint from her duvet cover.

"It's quite well done," she said, moving to sit next to him on the bed.

"Thanks," he said, still not looking up. "I know how much you like green, so..." He flashed her a quick smile and then looked down at the box that was now settled on her lap.

"And... this?" she asked, pointing to the little plant he'd buried in the centre of the bow.

Fitz's ears glowed pink as he tried to look casual. "Oh _that_ ," he said dismissively. "Just a bit of a laugh." He peeked at her quickly before looking down at where she was playing with the curled ribbon.

"A laugh?" she asked, looking at his long lashes because she couldn't see his eyes.

"You know, after how everyone kept getting it wrong all the time," he shrugged. "I figured, y'know," he shrugged again awkwardly. "Anyway," he shifted a bit and their knees knocked together. The pink moved from his ears down his cheeks.

Jemma plucked it out from the bow and held it up in front of her face. She smiled at the small, rounded leaves and white berries and then looked past it to where Fitz sat in an agony of blushes. "This is the first actual mistletoe I've seen this year," she said, shifting slightly so that their thighs touched. "Thank you, Fitz."

He gulped and grabbed at her duvet cover again. After she'd shifted, his arm had somehow ended up behind her, and he wasn't sure whether or not he should move it.

Jemma carefully placed her gift on the bed beside her and then turned back to Fitz, placing her own hand on the bedspread behind him so that their arms crossed. "It seems a shame, though," she said softly, leaning down so that she could meet his eyes where they were still focused on his lap.

"What does?" Fitz asked, looking up and swallowing hard.

"Not using it," Jemma said with a smile.

Fitz blinked and then lifted his head and Jemma lifted hers as well. He looked at her for a moment, gauging her expression, and then he smiled back.

"Well," he said, taking her hand in his and raising the mistletoe above their heads. "I'd hate to waste a good parasitic plant, now wouldn't I?"

"It would be ecologically irresponsible," Jemma agreed.

And then she leaned forward and so did he and the mistletoe was forgotten as their lips pressed together.


End file.
